Pyong-taek, a city in South Korea currently hosts 2 large U.S. military bases. The plan for base expansion is under way which would make the existing bases the largest U.S. military installations in East Asia by 2007. Land of the farmers in Pyong-taek was stolen consecutively by the Japanese and the United States military in the past. Farmers who were kicked out from their land still live in extreme living conditions in the margins of the U.S. military bases, however, they are now organized to fight the upcoming base expansion. Conflicts among the residents arise for the merchants who do business for the base welcome the base expansion. Farmers in Pyong-taek continue their fight against the U.S. military to keep their hometown. The film questions ideas of history and memory embedded in landscapes and testimonies in a country where remnants of cold war ideological battles still dominate fundamentals of political discourse. Through personal perspective of the filmmaker, the film attempt to portray towns near the U.S. military bases and the lives of the people who live there. In 2005, when the conflict in Iraq still continue, perhaps the presence of the U.S. military and the way its policies get executed is not only the symptom of Pyong-taek, South Korea, but that of the world.

If conditions of globalization means the decline of national power, we would need to provide alternative conditions for military power, the physical manifestation of national power. Conditions for military power must be inclusive to examining the impact physical damage and overall landscape of the military base have to the psychology and memory of the people who live around the base. A better picture of these situations would require a more rigorous formal explorations that can pierce through familiar images and endless political disputes.

Korea Premiere